Restraining Government in America and Around the World

1) I’m a public policy economist in Washington. I’ve been a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, an economist for Senator Bob Packwood and the Senate Finance Committee, and a Director of Tax and Budget Policy at Citizens for a Sound Economy.

2) A left-wing newspaper in the U.K. wrote that I’m “a high priest of light tax, small state libertarianism.” I assume they meant it as an insult, but it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me. Except perhaps the time I was called the “Guardian Angel” of taxpayers.

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Wow, #4. Your faith in Georgia is so weak that you might consider a national title more important than low taxes on a level playing field? Perhaps you should become an Ohio State fan, then you could have both. Or at least a national title sooner than later. OH-!

It was interesting to stumble upon this blog through a tag about something having to do with harmony. When I wear this hat as “The Intentional Sage,” I’m usually not inclined to think about politics, but in the very near future, I intend to be an advisor/consultant to government officials (high-ranking ones, later on), about the effectiveness of using intuition for excellence in decision-making. 🙂

Why would it be sinking to a level to be on Twitter?I’m on Facebook,can you sink a little more?It’s good to hear the real people of this country-the one’s that want freedom to eat,drink,take care/or not, of their own health if they want.I have food allergies to corn,soy,carrots and eggs.But why has corn permeated every aspect of live that I have no way of ever avoiding it,to get myself better.Remember avoiding an allergen for some years can reset the body,so it’s not allergic to that substance.I can’t do that with corn-it’s in the toothpaste[sorbitol],vinegars in most sauces that use vinegar,pickles-vinegar and polysorbate 80,honey-they feed the bees honey-I react to honey-anything cured-bacon,hamsteaks,sausage,some lunchmeats-most lunchmeats[sodium erythorbate,dextrose],everything boxed,except Kraftfoods Mac-n-cheese,cheeses[except here I run into coloring troubles,with carrots-apocarotenal/betacarotene-but I won’t complain to you on that one,already talked to Kraft-because they’re one of the few easy make meals I can eat,but for the carrot colored ones[make my eyes rash badly,besides the throat tightening]-Now the medicines-I had to quit taking the blood pressure medicine I was on,in fact when I looked them[BP meds]I only came up with one I might be abe to have,except i have no insurance or health plan,since I had to quit my job at McDonald’s because my heart messed up,and because I can’t work with the food there anymore.]

Big time college sports need to die and its fans make no sense. In might make sense to support a team that was drawn from among the student body – fellow college students like yourself. It makes no sense to support hired guns with zero connection to you or your school.

The colleges exploit and endanger young men, most of whom will never make the pros and never graduate. Most of these athletes are not smart enough to have been considered college material without their ball playing skills. And they are paid nothing for their efforts, not even for sales of their jerseys and other items with their names and likenesses.

Far better to have the equivalent of the British soccer pyramid. I hate soccer, I hasten to add, but I love the way the British organize it. Below the top, NFL/NBA level league are other leagues, with more leagues below them. After a season, a top winning team gets “promoted” to a higher league, and a bottom losing team gets “relegated” to a lower one. You could start out with an amateur or semi-pro neighborhood team with your buddies, keep winning and getting promoted, and eventually your team can end up in the stratospheric, tip-top league. Or not. Or you yourself can rise through the ranks of teams and leagues.

And the not is the real beauty of it, because the vast majority of players without the million dollar first rate talent can still make a blue collar, middle class, or even affluent living playing sports in one of the mid level leagues.

Thus an 18 year old, rather than risking his health, career, and even life wasting years of his prime playing for free in the vain hope of a shot at the big time can instead support his family and earn a realistic living, and still get a shot at the big time too.

The massive fraud and intellectual dishonesty of pretending that athletes are scholars would end, the constant scandals surrounding boosters would end, the exploitation would end, everyone wins.

With the Republicans trying to field Romney or Palin, the Libertarians will have a good shot in 2012. I think you’re a lot better than Wayne Allen Root at making rational arguments that people can identify with.

With your charisma, you could definitely have a chance of taking the Libertarian nomination and debating your way to the presidency.

I didn’t figure you’d read comments at that Forbes page, and I didn’t know where I might leave a message you’d actually read, so sorry if this is not the correct spot.

The argument in your Forbes piece is not really sound. You claim that “Since the Clinton Administration’s own numbers reveal that the 1993 tax increase was a failure, we have to find a different reason to explain why the budget shifted to surplus in the late 1990s.”

First, the projections do not show that the tax hikes were a failure. They merely show what the Clinton Admin believed would be the economic outlook over the next several years. They could easily have argued that without the hikes, the country would have been in worse fiscal condition. How many times have we heard this from Republicans about the Bush Tax Cuts? (“Job creation and the economy would have been so much worse without those cuts…” see Mitch McConnell on Meet the Press not too long ago, for one). You would need to first prove that the tax hikes had a negative effect before you could move forward in that claim, a tricky endeavor since it’s not only a counterfactual point (we’ll never know otherwise) but there are many factors in addition to tax policy that drive a nation’s economy (for the good or bad).

Second, the projections themselves are just that: they are projections. Anybody even casually looking at economic projections over the past 10 years will know how utterly wrong many administrations are about economic projections. So perhaps the Clinton Admin projection team just got it wrong–or better, they could never have fully predicted some of the major changes about to take place in the economy (such as tech boom). Either way, the tax hikes themselves have not been proven (by your article) to be better or worse for the country.

Basic point: your claims rest on a somewhat misleading confluence of budget projections and tax policy, one that would really need to be sorted out better. I look forward to your trying in the future.

Also note: the charts are somewhat misleading–to the eye, anyway. You certainly do say the blue/red lines are “estimates.” But when you paste those estimates on to a chart with “actual” budget numbers, it’s a misleading use of two different concepts. It seems like it wants to say, “here’s what would have happened, and here’s what did happen.” But for all the reasons given above, the “estimates” don’t say/prove that’s what “would have happened…” they simply say here’s what we thought might happen given all current policy, economic indicators, etc.

I say all this because anytime I hear “it was all spending cuts” or “it was all tax hikes” from right or left on the Clinton days, I want to say, “no… it seems like it was a good combination of BOTH, and it seems like there was an emerging industry (tech) that no on expected and that produced well.”

I believe in a productive, beneficial, efficient, and yet restrained government on the spending side, yet in a corresponding tax policy that reflects the needs of the people. Clinton (and Gingrich, others) seemed to broker that balance… but none of which we have right now in America.

Hi. First time here. Definitely a bookmark for daily reading.
I too would take that insult from a leftist as an incredible compliment….
I can also appreciate someone who is willing to throw the country under the bus for a National Title. 🙂
As a lifelong Buckeye.. well, things can get worse.
You might consider the Senator as your new head coach…..
And an important note to those who do not get the skiing part.
Paraphrased: Every day you wait to enjoy your first day on the slopes, is one day older you will be, when you fall in love with skiing. (W, Miller)

Are you aware that this fine blog, International Liberty, requires an unusually long time to download? Perhaps the Cato strategy of using the “read more” on the posts could be utilized to truncate the download time.

Dreadmonger Washington Bureau – As the high priest of light tax, small-state libertarianism, would you care to comment on the new “Perma-Stop” legislation that was announced this week by Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi?

As a persecuted Tech alumni (I live near Athens), I would have to say that you’ve changed my opinion of Bulldog grads. Thanks for reopening my mind to the miraculous possibilities that there is someone other than jocks and party goers attending. Thanks for all the great work and I wholeheartedly concur that you should lower your standards one more notch and start a Facebook page 🙂 Take care and keep the faith.

I pretty much stole and adapted your #4 for my own website (in my case it’s a choice between living in a libertarian paradise in a Colorado valley or watching the Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup). Since everyone seems to think it’s the most clever thing I’ve written, I feel like I should give credit where it is due.

Mr. Mitchell, I have watched some of your videos at HotAir and other conservative or political sites and I now find myself coming directly to your site on a daily basis. I have no formal education in economics and have normally found the subject to be especially confusing and taxing (pardon the pun) when discussed on a national level. I’m no more economically savvy than the next guy–though I do manage to keep my own house in order, which many “next guys” don’t seem to be able to do–and I find your explanations on economics, government, taxes and the like to be very clear and logical. Furthermore, your charisma seems to propel your message, and the two together help me easily absorb those concepts. In short, you are doing a fantastic job. I will continue to frequent your site and look forward to every writing, video, comic, analogy, and everything else you post. I sometimes feel like a student sitting in front a fantastic teacher, and I appreciate my good fortune. I’ve always felt that most politicians are no more than mystics, touting their ability to see something that the rest of us rubes cannot, mostly in an effort to avoid doing the type of real work the rest of us do on a daily basis. In short, if your mission is to bring economics and the rest into simple terms so the average person can grasp it and form an opinion of their own, you are doing an A+ job. Please keep it up, as I know that economics will always trump politics, that is, no politician can force the economy to do anything it will not do on its own; they can only shackle it. I’m a conservative, not a republican, and you often remind me what it is to be a conservative and not a political party stalwart. Thank you sincerely.

Hey Dan, I learn more from you and trust your work more than any site on the web. You do a great job and provide a wonderful service. Your mission should you choose to attempt is: How to get the word out to the Middle 20% that decide elections? Thanks for all you do Amigo, J.C.

As a Ga Tech grad I’m glad you love your bulldogs and wish them all the success in the world except for one loss a year – a loss we appear to be largely unable to administer. I’m a small gov’t type believing in fiscal responsibility and strong national defense (with a kick-ass offense) and I really enjoy your perspective.

Being an American and having lived in Switzerland for five years recently, I have a slightly different take on these issues.

#1. Gov spending is lower in Switzerland… Having looked at the US Federal Budget recently I see that we are spending at least 35% of our tax dollars on Defense (spread among Defense, Homeland Security, Military Pension, Military Retirement, Base Clean-up) – it may be 40% but that would take some real teasing out of the numbers. You could not make this claim about Switzerland if they suddenly added to their current spending another 30-35% for defense. And, why am I singling out defense… because this is the big difference in what America and Switzerland spends tax dollars on. Switzerland has many social welfare programs, public infrastructure projects, university funding, etc..

2#. I’d love if the US went back to this model of the States responsible for the bulk of the spending, but we would also have to place the tax revenue with them. I fear, greatly, that the cries to push responsibilities from the Fed to the States is a means to push costs to the states while keeping the Federal Revenue.

#4. Your claims of Swiss multiculturalism are exaggerated. The Swiss are very selective in who the let into the country. They look quite unfavorably upon white Eastern Europeans and people of color. Many of the economic “treaties” Switzerland signs with EU Members are with the “older EU” members only. That way they can exclude the Eastern European states that joined in 2004 and later.

#5 The Swiss recently voted on a referendum to disallow active, reserve and former members of the military from keeping their automatic weapons at home. The referendum was defeated with a majority – 57%. While this is obviously a majority, the group that wants to stop keeping of automatic weapons at home grows steadily. I would guess they are a decade away, or one highly publicized tragedy away from banning this practice.

It’s funny to me how much we admire Switzerland because it’s a liberal socialist country at it’s roots. It has robust social welfare programs, it has a relatively large population of government employees and endless regulations, and it seems to deeply distrust of Laissez-faire economics.

For example, the Swiss never experienced a housing bubble. The Swiss credit their high-tax on housing speculation for this fact.

If you own a property for less than five years, any gain on the sale of that property is taxed at nearly 100% – discouraging speculation. Does that sound like American ideals.

And everything is regulated. You can’t own a dog without taking training – that’s training for you. You can’t own a bike without insurance.

It’s not intellectually honest to take small brush strokes of Switzerland and extol them as examples of free market democratic exceptionalism. The whole picture tells quite a different story.

Dan, I have pleasant memories of you at the DLS and UGA. You lived in a steep A frame off north avenue. I wasn’t converted to Libertarianism till later in life. But it clearly the only option. Thanks for inspiring me with your column.

I found your blog and want to share Liberty Birds cartoons. Episodes include politics and why more Libs are realizing the country is getting worse because of the wrong ideologies. See episodes including “Moon Power” and “Bucket Plan” and the famous empty chair.

Dan, you’re “a high priest of light tax, small state libertarianism”. In other words, you’re a high priest of a sect of statism.

Now, please write about unplugging your precious Bulldogs from their governmental life support system. Deprive them of all subsidies and favors that they cannot obtain voluntarily. Deprive them of all constitutional and statutory privileges.

I find the blog interesting, but my first reaction to seeing it was: who on earth puts four pictures of themselves at the top of a blog? Dude, no offense, but it makes you seem full of yourself. This is coming from a free market libertarian, so please don’t discount my friendly advice: pull down most of the pictures of yourself, and others may take your writings more seriously.

I forwarded your URL to some college friends. I had to omit the thing about you being from the Univ of Georgia. We’re all Georgia Tech alumni. But seriously, your blog is very appreciated. I’m highly interested in getting the U.S. to remove exit taxes on citizens who leave the country. Obama is going to be here for the next four years and his policies will plague the country for years afterwards. It’s only logical to seek refuge in other countries. That’s what I’m thinking and I’m just a regular citizen in Fairfax, Va.

I hope your youtube video on reducing government spending is widely viewed. I think the next four years are going to be tough. I’ve visited Slovakia and although the country was Soviet Block (And still is dealing with the effects of that), I have a feeling that many Germans and Austrians will be migrating down there sooner or later.

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Thank you, I’ve recently been searching for info about this topic for a while and yours is the best I have found out so far. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you certain in regards to the source?

[…] as a left-wing newspaper, but I’ve always had a special place for them in my heart ever since one of their writers accused me of being “a high priest of light tax, small state libertarianism.” He meant it as an insult, […]

Hi Dan, I know you’re a busy guy, but if theres any chance you could help me gain a few followers for my new libertarian blog based in the UK then that would be smashing. ps. I’m a big fan, keep up the good work!

Dan, a semis-techie question. I posted an article on my blog earlier today that linked to an article here. When I arrived here to post the link I discovered that your site had (a) figured out there was an inbound link, Ib) excerpted the part of the article including the link, and (3) (stupid autocorrect) posted the excerpt as a comment. I use WordPress on quite a few sites. Any tips about how you did it?
Thanks. – Tony Lima

How can you be for the flat tax as opposed to the Fair Tax (national retail sales tax)? The flat tax would keep the IRS for enforcement purposes. The flat tax would be difficult for small business owners; are they taxed on their gross or net. If net, how do they arrive at that figure? Through additional tax law enforced by the IRS. However the FAIR TAX needs no IRS, the means for collecting sales tax already exists virtually everywhere. Pre-bates would exempt the poor. We would be taxed only on what we spend, thereby encouraging saving and investing. Please consider this superior alternative.
Sincerely yours – Paul Granger

I just found your page Daniel. I enjoy the topics and your writing style. I just started my blog site (transitioning from my Forbes blog) along a similar vein as yours, I’d appreciate any critique or feedback that you might have. It’s at postobjectivist.com. Thanks!